New Brochure Aimed Directly at Reaching Children

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced on Friday, August 4, 2017, that his office has released a new brochure in the “Connect 2 Disconnect” campaign, which the District Attorney launched in March 2017. “Connect 2 Disconnect” is designed to provide information to the public about the nature of opiate addiction, about ways to recognize that someone might be addicted, and about some ways to intervene to stop opiate use from getting out of control. The initiative provides a variety of literature related to the opiate crisis, in hard copy and online.

In previous releases under the initiative, literature has been geared toward educating parents about ways to keep their children away from opiates. The newly released brochure, on the other hand, is specifically directed toward children. It provides children with a list of eight signs that a friend might be abusing or addicted to opiates. It also provides some strategies for children to use in talking with friends who might be addicted, in order to help their friends stay away from opiates in the first place, or to urge them to seek help if they are already addicted. Finally, the new brochure provides contact information for some resources that children might use to seek help for opiate abuse or addiction.

“We’re all in this opiate crisis together,” said District Attorney Hoovler, “and it is important for all of us, parent, child, educator, public official, to step up and do whatever we can to stop the epidemic. ‘Connect 2 Disconnect’ is designed to bring our citizens important information that they can use to do that. Our new release is directly targeted at children, who often relate better with each other than they do with their parents. Getting this valuable information into the hands of children, who might have friends struggling with opiate abuse or addiction, is critical. Having this information might just allow a child to save someone’s life.”

For further information about the ‘Connect 2 Disconnect’ initiative, or to obtain copies of written materials, please contact District Attorney Hoovler’s Special Projects and Community Affairs Bureau at (845) 615-3640 or by email to DACommunityAffairs@orangecountygov.com. Online materials for the initiative can be accessed at http://www.orangecountygov.com/Orange-County-District-Attorney–Connect-2-Disconnect-Heroin/Opioid-Awareness-Initiative.